As I was trying to e down off the high induced by a flood of faith energy, the strange creatures nearly closed the distao our position. Suddenly, even with my nelugs, all I could hear was a deep resonant hum, followed by the zap crackle of the field gun unleashing hundreds of beams of light. All of the Guardsmen radiated eagerness while watg the barrage and the resultiation of the weird beings iuhat eagerness started to dull as they began to realize that the strange beings weren't going to survive the bright beams cutting through the tuhey wanted some of the eo get through so they could fight them up close.

  A minute passed and the barrels of the field gun were beginning to glow a dull e. Soon the on would have to stop. This had turned into a battle of attrition, did them have more bodies than our ons could bare. Two squads of the Guardsmen fhe "son", their cruel bayos already affixed to their "srifles". They didn't shuffle, fidget, or make any unnecessary noise, very much reminding me of John. They waited for the gun to stop, so they could fight and die for their Emperor. For me, and that was a heavy and terrible cloak settling on my shoulders.

  Ay hallway theed them, the flood of twisted flesh and ed had stopped. Their disappoi was fsh bulb bright in my new sense of the emotional world. The son had gone quiet. My mind was already rag to reorder my thoughts, and I took a small measure of time to pohis empathetic ability. Jim's or my owions were heavy plex things, John's were hidden and obscured. The troops from New Lordaeron had simple, clear, but deep feelings. Hmm. Why could I sense my owions? A sudden burst of dizziness as I tried to tch more deeply onto my own feelings. Nope, let's save expl that for aime.

  From the Imperials, the only being that possessed aional quality simir to mine or Jim's was Marshall 999. Though his were far more singurly focused on a sense of directed fury and pain, he he less had feelings about other things. Magos Helifern's were faint things barely noticeable, however there was a sense of somethiing in the way of them. The rest of the Guardsmen though, if I had to put it into words, seemed like addicts. Everything that mattered to them was dialed , but somehow everything was all greyed out.

  Which lead me back to our new enemy. Despite the inteward expression e, including the snarling expressions on the faces of the strange creatures, there was no actual sense of emotion at all. How could that be? Was it all an act? Were they immuo my new senses?

  Helifern was already using his mechadendrites to disassemble several of the scorched corpses for an initial study. He used a variety of instruments to examihe smoking and scorched pieces. He called out in Lingua-teis "Initial study indicates some form of Heretek, and the possible presence of a ype of Scrap Code. However, there is something variant about these readings. I reend following proper protocol, perf the rites of sing beginning with immediate iion of the tainted remains. Avoid all tact with the subjects. Further safe analysis would require a Sanctified Temple to the Omnissiah. I request the resources to begin stru."

  I still had no clue why I could uand his binary based nguage. Though I noticed that of those present, only Marshall 999 fully prehehe Magos's nguage. The rest of the Kriegsmen only seemed to uand enough to know not to i with the remains of the creatures. Either way I'd let 999 deal with the Magos's requests.

  I had the first of the new Probes start sing the bodies. Then of course, had some of them s the son. I was looking forward to modifying the on. The sons in general seemed like they could be an excellent step forward in the development of our armaments.

  Just as we started to move away from the barricade, we could hear the distant screeches of more of those creatures approag. I shook my head, "We don't have time for this." I was beyond a this point. It seemed that every single pn I'd made had gotten derailed or sidetracked by outside influences. How do you even begin to at for the unknown?

  "We could leave it to these men. They seem more than capable." Rayngested, though I sensed his reluce to hand over responsibility. I saw that John was nodding beside him. That was a... good idea. No, perhaps good was the wrong term, it was an expedient idea. These Imperials were born and bred for war. It was all the majority of them knew. I'd been trying to think of someway to use them, or limit them, anyossible to keep them under trol. This swarm of odd beings was an excellent target, aroying them was a useful service.

  "Marshall 999, would you be willing to make this task your focus?"

  The Marshall so attention, his salute crisp and precise. "Of course, Emperor. If you and it, it shall be done." Again with that sense of shouldering a heavy fug burden. Could I hahis, hahe Guardsmen and their uioning service? I really had never had any desire to be a leader, never mind an Emperor. I only started taking and of the troops, because it seemed the best way to achieve the long term goal of saving this world. This wasn't really me.

  No, there I was doing it again. I was finding ways to shift responsibility, all to try and avoid taking bme. Everything all of these folks I'd summoo this world did, was ultimately ohey wouldn't be here without me. Without me, there is no them. Sure, I wouldn't be here without the pany. I was absolutely certain that there was no way ihe pany was going to accept responsibility for their part in all of this. So it was on me. I had to lead, because there was no one else. I should really be more thankful that so many of the folks I brought here were good at helping me bee a better leader.

  With that insight firmly in mind, I turo face the Marshall directly. "Marshall, destroy this threat. Do everything in your power to keep this from spilling onto the surface. I will send you supplies and the means to sustain yourselves as soon as I get back to New Lordaeron. Send me reports on any major ges, otherwise I'm leaving this matter entirely in your hands." Ah, the joys of hypocrisy. Well, delegation is a valuable leadership skill.

  "We will not fail, Emperor!" He snapped a salute. At my nod, he swiftly marched off to start giving orders to his troops. I wao sigh, to curl in on myself, but I held it in. The men deserved better from me than that kind of weak behavior. I was going to have to figure out how to bee worthy of such devotion. I certainly wasn't now.

  I turo Jim and John, "We're going to call in the MRAP. Then we'll hit the arget with the gun. If all goes well, we won't have to worry about staying hidden any longer. Ohe quest is plete, we'll head home."

  They shared a look. "Hoss, you don't have to hurry. We have time, and we only get strohe longer we work." My gut ched up at his words. We didn't have time, not anymore.

  "I know that, Jim. I know, but something is wrong. Something we missed... I missed. It's not just these monsters down iunnels, something close to us has been messed up. It's only with this new css that I finally se." My gaze turned back to the tunnels we'd just abandoned. I hardly felt any threat from the monsters down here, no the real threat was closer to home. While I was only just being aware of it, I was more thaain that we o get back.

  " you tell what it might be?" John asked. Nice of him not to question my sanity. I know I was. I felt like I was being pulled in thousands of dires.

  "No, not yet. I think these powers are still too o get that kind of specififormatiht now, I'm just getting warnings." Somehow I khese premonitions would get clearer with my adva in this new Css.

  Behind us the son had started another round of clearing the tunnel.

  Which reminded me, where was these creatures' pain?

  We left the Kriegsmen to fulfill their duty. It ast time to finish this quest, and head bae.

  The Probes cleared the path to the surface, and once we were standing by the CHOOH2 station, they pletely sealed off the underground passage once more. Let the monsters have their subterranean realm. There would be no more hiding or skulking, it made me siy core. We would expand and face our foes. This round of testing had proven that most of the ons of this world were no match for ours.

  we'd have to take the skies, and from there we would quer the Earth's orbit. From there we shall rain down fire upon the sid twisted Corpos, and offer succor to the worthy. Then we might turn our attention to the stars...

  I shook my head try to dislodge the fn thoughts. This was getting out of hand. I wasn't some all quering asshole. I just want to help people, ahe nd. Ohing was certain, I'd have to be very careful before I fed the Voice of the Emperor css anymore. Its influeny mind was too great already. The struggle to remember the core values of who I was grew more difficult by the hour. Not that I wasn't already ined to burn this city down to begin with, but there were more humane ways, more surgical methods to get the same results.

  'Spare your enemies, suffer the rewards of your foolishness.' Great. Now the Css eaking to me.

  We'd gotten ourselves loaded up into the MRAP, along with our newly updated Probes. I'd a feeling we'd need a ylon or two to cover our tracks before today was through. And I simply was ed about the Corpos or the City in general disc us anymore.

  My e's date and time dispy let me know that it was just past noon. There was a huge sense of time loss, perhaps all that time spent underground had messed with my body's rhythms. Maybe the stressful events we had just been through had done a number on our internal clocks. Looking towards the sky revealed the bright sun only slightly obscured today by pollution. Not a natural cloud in the sky. For some reason, this felt like a good omen, though it robably just wishful thinking.

  I drove us to the arget, which was another one of the buildings we had identified as being under Maelstrom trol. This one happeo be a ic of some kind. Which was unsurprising because from the data the Observers had scraped up they initiated new gang members there. That made it an excellent target to send a powerful message.

  We pulled into ay lot across the street from the three story structure. Nothing stood out about the building, except that in a neighborhood where everything was tagged with Maelstrom graffiti, this building was untouched. The Probes began assembling a ylon above us, while we went over the data feed from the Observer. Hmm, there were about 32 fugly bastards in there.

  The current pn was for John to run the gun bad forth on each floor. He'd hit who he'd hit, and theake off, ahree miles away before anyone could even spot us again. If we mao paste even half of the gangoons, then the quest should be pleted and we'd head home. If not, then we move to the arget a the same type of a.

  Holy, I was surprised no one in the area came over to ask about the very noticeable stru process taking pce right above our heads. Sure it looked just like odd looking drones building something to them, but e on. I'd have to chalk it up to Night City's mind your own business attitude, I guess. As the ylon came online, we felt when the Psifield snapped into pce. That buzzing crackle of energy in the back of our minds. The Probes quickly reattached themselves to our vehicle. I set the Pylon to passive mode, it would maintaiealth field without attag. One day we might o use this position again.

  Using the trols, John walked the barrel of the gun through his intended as. Then he repeated the motion, correg his teique with each pass. Once he was satisfied with his movements, he nodded and opened fire. The gunfire cracked the sound barrier repeatedly. After the first couple of rounds, individual shots couldn't be distinguish from one another, creating a singur crag roar. I was extremely thankful for the earplugs John had found.

  It took John just over a mio plete his intended pattern. This was enough time for the guo make every nerve in my body twit a matg rhythm. Then it was over, and in the quiet my skin prickled and my insides ed.

  The front of the building was colpsing as many of the supports had beeroyed by the gun's heavy rounds. I saw the quest pletion e up and floored the MRAP's pedal. Time to go home. No ohered us, no one chased us.

  We made a brief stop, to che Greg, at the Su Motel. Just to make sure my premonition wasn't somehow about him. I introduced him to Jim and John, then bought the boys some drinks before we would move on. Greg had told me everything had been fine, barely any trouble passed through there sihe st time he saw me. Good. One possible source of this dreadful gnawing in my gut, could be marked off the list.

  'Meadran, you there?' I figured it was worth it to che.

  'Young One, I sense you.' He seemed unbothered. He was lethargid in no distress.

  'Are you okay?' Better to ask...

  'Yes, everything is well, as far as I am aware.' He seemed to slowly gain more alertness. He vast mind altered it's patterns into a more active mode.

  ' you che the others for me, I 't shake the sehat something is wrong.' I could feel him reach out through the trees.

  'I sehing amiss, and Faergin and Korvaith report they are fine as well.' He was now fully awake and the seeds of worry began to germinate in him.

  'Thanks Meadran. I'll che with Alina and she if her sensors have picked anything up.' Hmm. Really what could this damnable sensatiorying to warn me about?

  'Be careful, Young One. Premonitions are often misuood until it is too te.' Once again tless images ons chasing fading shadows in the mists. Greehis time.

  I reached out for Alina in the Psifield, 'Alina status report.'

  'Everything is withiional expectations, Executor.' Would she even be able to ceive of truly devious covert as? I tried to sider all the way that our operation might be fucked with. To plete my model I needed more information, but fortunately we had the means to gather all the data we could possibly want.

  'Alina, have an Observer s the whole of New Lordaeron and the Valley. Report anything eveely anomalous.' If I couldn't suss out the problem myself, I'd have my most trusted Robo-Buddies find it for me.

  'By your and Executor.' I could clearly feel her attention turn toward this task. My e to the Psifield had grown stronger.

  I pondered my as very carefully. However, I was worried that it was already too te to stop whatever was ing. I looked at the troops drinking and snag.

  "I need all of you to stay o after we get home. I still 't shake this feeling that something has gone wrong." I was going to want to bury myself in distra, tinkering or spending time with Sally and Megan, even w on mana shaping. Anything to avoid this struggle, but I couldn't let myself lose focus. My Css induced personalities were in flict about the proper course of aaking the vagueness of my premonition into a far worse problem.

  The first thing I had to do once we got back, was to fix or repce my damned Padin Css. Somehow I khat it remaining shattered made it easier for the Emperor Css to screw with my thoughts. As if there were gaps in my mental armor.

  Raynor shared a ed look with the men, "Hoss, I think I speak for all of us, when I say we've learo trust yut. We've been through too much shit together to ignore you now."

  John nodded agreement, "Yeah." I could tell that both of them were already trying in their own ways to figure out what the danger might be.

  They all raised their drinks to me. I returhe gesture. "However this all pys out, know that I am proud of you all." We all took a drink. I felt their burst of pride at my statement, ae the short amount of time we'd all spent together, our friendship.

  My mind was already turning back to the ways someone could screw us over. Under no circumstances could I let that happen.